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JUNE 18, 2010: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WCTF PARTNERS WITH USC TO TRAIN DOCTORS
FROM ARMENIA IN LIFE-SAVING PEDIATRIC TRANSPLANT SURGERIES
-Training of Armenian Doctors at USC
Hospital Set for Six Months-
LOS ANGELES, Calif, June 18, 2010
/WCTF/ -- The World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF) is
providing funding for Dr. Gegham Poghosyan and Dr. Davit
Dallakyan, both of Armenia, to receive specialized pediatric
transplant training at the USC University Hospital in Los
Angeles. The goal of the training is to educate the visiting
doctors on pediatric organ transplantation and management of
transplant candidates and recipients.
“It is very gratifying to be part of an
authentic partnership between the USC University Hospital
and the World Children’s Transplant Fund,” said Valerie
McCaffrey, chairperson of WCTF’s Armenia Committee. “The
training these doctors will receive is the cutting edge for
pediatric transplantation, and is not available in Armenia.”
The USC training, which will be headed by
Dr. Linda Sher and Dr. Yuri Genyk, will consist of academic
and observational study. Once the training is complete, the
doctors will return to Sourb Astvatsamayr Medical Center,
where they will continue their medical careers and further
WCTF’s mission of pediatric organ transplantation.
“We are enormously grateful that Doctors
Linda Sher and Yuri Genyk, and their world-class transplant
team, are willing to expend the time and effort in teaching
the latest advancements in pediatric organ transplantation
to eager visiting surgeons who will invest six months of
their time into the partnership,” said McCaffrey.
WCTF is providing the doctors with a
living stipend and reimbursement for expenses incidental to
their stay. WCTF also is providing medical insurance for
each doctor, and a shared apartment. While receiving their
training, the doctors will remain employees of Sourb
Astvatsamayr Medical Center in Armenia.
“The return on this investment is a human
one, one that will be reflected in the healthy lives of
Armenia’s children who will benefit from the new-found
skills of the returning transplant surgeons,” said
McCaffrey. “The spinoff of this project will be felt for
many years in Armenia’s pediatric medical community and the
children served by it.”
Poghosyan and Dallakyan are licensed,
practicing surgeons at Sourb Astvatsamayr Medical Center.
Poghoyan graduated from Yerevan State Medical University in
1997. After post-doctoral training in Moscow, he joined
Sourb Astvatsamayr as a surgeon in 2007. Dallakyan graduated
from Yerevan State Medical University in 2006. After his
residency in Pediatric Surgery at Sourb Astvatsamayr, he
joined the medical center as a staff pediatric surgeon. Both
men have been selected by the Medial Center and WCTF as
highly talented, dedicated individuals. They are both fluent
in English.
ABOUT SOUB ASTVATSAMAYR MEDICAL
UNIVERSITY
Sourb Astvatsamayr is one of the biggest
medical centers in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the clinical base
for the chairs of pediatrics, pediatric surgery, and
neurology of YSMU, as well as for the chairs of neurology,
neurosurgery and ENT-diseases of the National Institute of
Healthcare. In 2003, thanks to a grant from the Japanese
government, the Center was re-equipped with modern devices:
digital analyzers, new sonograph machines, monitoring
systems for patients’ follow-up, and endovision systems for
endoscopic operations. In 2005, the World Bank started a
program to modernize the medical center’s equipment,
improving the management and quality of medical aid.
There is still a lot of improvement
required for the Sourb Astvatsamayr Medical Center (and
indeed, for health care in general in Armenia) to reach the
levels of quality and care available in the rest of the
developed world. Like other new independent states of the
former Soviet Union, Armenia’s economy still suffers from
the legacy of a centrally planned economy and the breakdown
of former Soviet trading networks. In addition, a recent
earthquake and conflict with Azerbaijan over
Nagorno-Karabakh have hampered the country’s development.
Armenian diaspora, foreign governments and nonprofits such
as WCTF have been a source of assistance to medical centers
such as Sourb stvatsamayr.
ABOUT WCTF IN ARMENIA
WCTF opened its center in Yerevan, Armenia
in 2002. The first challenge in Armenia was to assist in the
preparation of legislation that would enable organ
transplantation to take place as well as to ban the sale of
organs. The legislation passed in limited form (allowing
living-related transplantation procedures among family
members, as well as certain other types of transplantation).
Since that time, the Armenia chapter has
been active in fundraising and in introducing the concept of
organ transplantation to the country by funding cornea
transplants for several children whose sight had been lost
in accidents. The public awareness campaigns surrounding
these procedures have increased the visibility of
transplantation in Armenia while reducing the fear and
uncertainty surrounding this type of surgery.
The next steps in Armenia are to assist in
passing legislation that allows living organ transplantation
from unrelated donors (for kidney transplants among
unrelated persons) and to begin training physicians from
various hospitals in Yerevan in life-saving organ
transplantation techniques. In addition, he WCTF in Armenia
plans to undertake fundraising campaigns to procure
necessary intensive care unit technology necessary for
after-care of pediatric transplant patients.
ABOUT THE WORLD CHILDREN’S TRANSPLANT
FUND
The World Children’s Transplant Fund, or
WCTF, is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization dedicated
to the development of pediatric transplantation around the
world.
Lack of financing for transplant
operations, and especially for post-operation treatment, is
one of the major problems in every country. WCTF raises
funds to establish pediatric transplant centers in those
countries that do not have them; helps purchase necessary
equipment and drugs for the transplant hospitals; helps
organize appropriate training for the transplant surgeons
and coordinators; and helps organize organ donation
campaigns.
WCTF’s mission is to provide as many
opportunities as possible for lifesaving pediatric
transplant surgery to children of the world. The
organization focuses on establishing World Children’s
Transplant Centers in regional site locations of key
population centers around the world attached to preexisting
medical facilities, with the goal being to assist nations in
developing and then sustaining independent pediatric organ
transplant programs using training, technology and teaching.
The Training component incorporates the
development of human resources including surgeons, support
staff, coordinators, and ancillary organ procurement
personnel. This component develops the education necessary
to perform pediatric organ transplants by allowing for
hands-on surgical experience in all areas of organ
transplantation. Seminars, conventions, congresses,
periodicals, and tapes are also covered through training.
The Technology component includes
establishing fully operational pediatric organ transplant
centers. This is accomplished through the acquisition of
necessary medical and technical equipment utilized in
pediatric organ transplant surgery.
The Technology component also includes
regional organ procurement software to provide a network for
donor matching and organ sharing through an automated organ
and donor registry, and international communication between
regional pediatric transplant facilities and the United
States, to provide for efficient audio-visual training and
the transfer of technology and communications.
The Teaching component includes the Public
Awareness Campaigns designed to educate the populace
regarding pediatric organ transplantation. This component
further includes publicity through print, radio, television,
on-line services, and other mediums.
For more information, visit
www.wctf.org.
Source: World Children’s Transplant
Fund
CONTACT:
For information about the visit of the
Armenian doctors and related info:
Valerie McCaffrey – Armenia Chair
Mobile (310)447-4985
Work (818)785-1886
For information about WCTF, including
background, mission, and photos:
Megan Braun – Coordinator
Mobile (802)558-2387
Web Site: http://www.wctf.org/
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